Karhammel IV - News from Karhammel IV

News from Karhammel IV, Thursday December 2019 19th :Our last –at sea, Las Palmas to Santa Lucia- messageAbout the broken jib : After 12 hours sewing, 132 holes in the ropes+head sail, 792 knots,the reparations allow the jib to work : grey plumber tape over the 6 sewed ropes & 12 jib weaknesses over the crema-white sail allow an original, excentric look, indeed, J J.Strong winds, 30-33 knots are our daily life, with a rough sea – 4 to 6 m,4 to6s, « crossed swells ». Main issue is that Karhammel IV is badly rolling,everything is flying across the cabin, including the crew members.Our hydrovane, Jean-Louis is working fine & beautifully : yesterday morning, his previous somehow neurastenic face welcome us completely illuminated with red nose –we immediateay checked but neither the. read more...

Karhammel IV - News from Karhammel IV

NEWS from Karhammel IV, Monday December 2019 16th :About the broken jib : After 12 painful hours sewing (132 holes in the ropes+head sail, 792 knots), we installed the « repaired » jib last Thursday before sundown. Till now, the reparations allow the jib to work : grey plumber scotch over the 6 sewed ropes & 11 jib weaknesses over the crema-white sail allow an original, excentric look, J. Today at 12.00 UTC, we were at 396 NM from Santa Lucia – ARC dixit-, Lubilu sailing boat’s  position in advance with 30 NM.Again strong winds, 30-33 knots are back, with a rough sea – 4 to 5 m,  4 to 8 s, « houles croisées ». Let’s use the pleasant terms picked up in  ARC weather forecasts : « enhanced trade winds », rather than. read more...

Karhammel IV - NEWS from Karhammel IV, Friday December 2019 13th

Most important : happy birthday to Camille, 24 years today, :)A huge sudden squall rinced very well the solar panels on Wednesday afternoon, J. Unfortunately, we hadn’t time to grab soap and bath clothes.About the broken jib : After 12 painful hours sewing (132 holes in the straps + headsail –at the strongest place, 10 layers of Dacron -, 792 knots done), we hoisted the « repaired » jib yesterday before sundown. Hoping  its life will not be too short. With our Inmarsat communication’ installation, we faced 48 disturbed hours. The Americas Inmarsat satellite didn’t accept to grant the data service, well,well, America & European relations, even for satellites are complex. Hope it’ll be now OK. After SMSs, calls... stressful not to be sure to receive Chris. read more...

Karhammel IV - News from Karhammel IV

Saturday 7th December, we began to get strong gusts, particularly at night. Every cloud brought its contribution. The larger clouds were pushing wind and water before them.We were already closing the fleet at that time, but remarked one boat was not so far away, and decided to chase her, Lubilu III. We know the crew, ate with 2 of them during the skipper-crew supper, J.As we were making some progress, and were goose-winged with 2 reefs in the main and the jib fully unrolled on the pole, Bruno at helm heared a big bang , and could see the jib flying free at the bow, and the clew point hanging desperately on the sheet at the pole!Very bad new indeed, 1,5 knot less at least, and difficulties if we would have to tack (not really a point in the circumstance). We set our small storm jib, which. read more...

Karhammel IV - News from Karhammel IV

The wind reached us finally Monday 2nd December at 7:44 UTC : 14 knots, not that much but we haven’t see such figure since the gusty departure day on 24th November. 20 knots at 20:00.Now heading 267°Second refill of our small freshwater tank  necessary : unfortunately our water-maker refuses to deliver any drop of water. Bruno spending hours down in the bilge to find the cause, and tighten all fittings, with no result.Tuesday second attempt to fix the water-maker, the problem is that air comes in: manual purge of the intake pipe successful. Tank filling completed.Wednesday, batteries 100% full. Our towed generator working beautifully. Afraid it could boil out our batteries. The point is we cannot switch it out or remove the propeller out of the water without stopping the. read more...